Cleopatra’s final resting place: Mummies of two high-status Egyptians discovered.

The mystery behind Egyptian queen Cleopatra’s tomb is immense because nobody appears to know where she was buried. However, when two high-status mummies from people who lived in Cleopatra’s reign were found at Taposiris Magna, a temple on the Nile delta, researchers in Egypt are probably near to solving the mystery of her burial.

A discovery that it is being described as “sensational” because it shows the importance of a necropolis that is being linked to her by the latest finds.

Although the burial chamber had been left undisturbed for 2,000 years, water had leaked in, leaving the mummies in a terrible condition of preservation.

But crucial evidence reveals they were originally completely covered with gold leaf, a luxury afforded only to those from the top tiers of society. Perhaps these two individuals had interacted with Cleopatra herself, archaeologists suggest.

The opening of the first-ever intact tomb found at Taposiris Magna was witnessed by cameras for a new Channel 5 documentary, The Hunt for Cleopatra’s Tomb, to be screened.

It is presented by Dr Glenn Godenho, a senior lecturer in Egyptology at Liverpool University, who described the discovery as phenomenal.

“Although now covered in dust from 2,000 years underground, at the time these mummies would have been spectacular. To be covered in gold leaf shows they … would have been … important members of society,” he said.

The mummies’ X-rays revealed that there are both male and female mummies. One theory is that they were priests who were crucial in preserving the pharaohs’ rule. One has a gold-leaf-painted scarab, a sign of rebirth. Cleopatra was the last of a ruthless dynasty that ruled the Ptolemaic kingdom in Egypt for almost three centuries. Yet not a single Ptolemaic pharaoh’s tomb has been found.

Excavations at Taposiris Magna are headed by Dr Kathleen Martínez, who, after working there for over 14 years, is more convinced than ever Cleopatra’s tomb will be found there. Only a tiny percentage of the vast site has been explored.

In the show, cameras film her as the burial chamber with two mummies is opened up for the first time. The mummies’ X-rays revealed that there are both male and female mummies. One theory is that they were priests who were crucial in preserving the pharaohs’ rule. One has a gold-leaf-painted scarab, a sign of rebirth.

A headless figure of a pharaoh thought to be King Ptolemy IV, Cleopatra’s ancestor, and a foundation plate bearing an inscription indicating that the temple was devoted to the goddess Isis are among her earlier findings. Cleopatra saw herself as the “human incarnation of Isis”, Martínez said.

At the site of the temple altar, where priests would have made offerings to the gods, 200 coins bearing Cleopatra’s name and her face have been discovered.